Competition for places spurs me on, says Marshall

David Marshall says the exceptional standard of Scotland’s goalkeepers has made him even more determined to push the team towards Euro 2016 Qualification.

Scotland take on Georgia on Friday before welcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup winners Germany to Hampden Park three days later.

Cardiff City captain Marshall has started all six of Scotland’s Group D games so far but says he cannot become complacent with the likes of Craig Gordon and Allan McGregor waiting behind him.

Speaking at a special Tesco Bank Football Challenge event at St Thomas Primary School, Marshall said:

“You can’t let your standard slip for a minute. Amongst the whole squad there’s a real competition for places and people would probably say the goalkeeping one is exceptional.

“It’s very easy for me to keep concentrated and focused when you have two players of that caliber looking to play as well.”

Scotland sit third in Group D, two points behind group leaders Poland, after a highly encouraging Euro Qualifying campaign. One loss from six games has put the team in a promising position but Marshall has urged caution ahead of the game against Georgia:

“I think because it is so tightly contested each victory is massive. There are only four games to go so it’s a huge game for us on Friday. It would put us in such a good position but football is a strange game so we have to be cautious.

“The attitude that we’ve shown, even going before this campaign when the manager came in, there’s a lot of positivity and confidence within the group so if we can keep all our players fit and all the players do their jobs, I’m sure we have a great chance of qualifying.”

Georgia sit second bottom of Group D on three points and suffered a 1-0 defeat in their last game against Scotland at Ibrox last October. New manager Kakhaber Tskhadadze was appointed in December and Marshall thinks that could encourage Friday’s opponents.

He commented: “They’ve had a change of manager and I’ve watched a few of their games - especially their first game against Ireland - they’ve been unlucky not to get a draw in some of these games.

"That change of manager can lift a team so we have to be prepared as much as we can be and we’ll do our homework. We’ll take the confidence from our earlier results into Friday’s game and hopefully we can get the three points.”